1. Field
The disclosure relates generally to an improved data processing system and more specifically to a computer implemented method, apparatus, and computer usable program code for automatically analyzing and assessing the impact of changing an information technology business requirement on an information technology infrastructure of an enterprise and particularly on business information technology services used to provision the business requirement.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of service-oriented architecture (SOA) environments and information services is fast becoming the preferred implementation for enterprise systems. Using SOA, an enterprise may be visualized as a collection of loosely coupled building blocks, called information services or business services. Information services provide a discrete business function, such as, for example, checking credit, opening an account, and so on, that can be adapted to a particular business context. As a business expands its enterprise capabilities, more information services are added to the network to accommodate the expansion.
SOA is about enabling or aligning businesses with information technology (IT) through a flexible services-based approach. This aligning of businesses with IT implies that business services can be reconfigured to meet changes in business processes. SOA is also about making businesses more flexible and agile in changing market conditions. For example, a business may decide to focus more on a middle market rather than on a personal line of business.
As a business changes its focus, the business will want to quickly understand the IT impact of these changes on the business, such as which business services will be affected by the change. Today, no good way exits for automating this visibility within an SOA-based enterprise architecture. An SOA-based enterprise architecture is a holistic expression of an enterprise's key business information, application, and technology strategies, along with their impact on models for business functions, rules, and processes.